03/29/2006
West Hollywood may soon have a third gigantic Playskool block erected in the middle of it: "So it took 30 years but the Pacific Design Center is finally fully leased and ready to move forward with a third building, intended from the beginning but never developed....According to Christopher Hawthorne, the addition of a third building is a watershed moment for LA architecture, as we move from solitary landmarks to 'ensemble architecture.'"
Katie Holmes hospital birthing poster revealed.
CNN: How Alcohol Works.
Make your reservation now: "The members-only club of Casa Casuarina in South Beach, formerly the mansion of slain designer Gianni Versace, is now open to the public - for a price. Telecommunications mogul Peter Loftin, who bought the three-story palace in early 2000, is allowing nonmembers to stay in the Gianni Versace suite or the duplex suite Madonna used to stay in for a whopping $4,000 a night. In addition, guests can now partake in Spa Eleven, a day spa overlooking the mosaic pool in which sybarites can enjoy a six-hand treatment called 'massage à trois.'" Followed, shortly thereafter, by three happy endings.
American Idol quitter Mario Vazquez has an album and a single, "Gallery", forthcoming. Vazquez (with a Z): "I don't want to give too much away, but lyrically it's just longing love, lost love, wanting love." Zzzzzzz.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays nice with friend.
Bette Midler had difficulty getting her head around the idea of gay marriage and civil partnerships because her idea of gay culture was men "who loved playing the field." Said Midler recently: "Wow! I didn't know there were that many people in love! You know, I'm old-school. I'm this age, and I've been through a lot and I didn't quite get it. I understood the civil part of it, but I knew a lot of people who wanted to live alone, have serial partners. It was very hard for me to grasp, I think. It was hard to see that it was an idea whose time had come. I know a lot of gay people, but I didn't know anyone who was rushing to the altar. But when I see people who are so committed... I think human beings are bound to want that."
Posted 4:39 PM EST by Andy Towle in Elsewhere | Permalink
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Bette Midler = stupid ignorant bitch
Posted by: Rich | Mar 29, 2006 5:06:33 PM
Rich - read it again. She discusses the evolution of her thought process. She is discussing her experiences and what she knew when she was living the life with us and what she has come to learn now. Not everyone can be perfect throughout their lives it's where you end up that counts and she has ended up in the right place.
Posted by: Donald | Mar 29, 2006 5:38:31 PM
Donald, you're probably right, but she's still a stupid ignorant bitch as far as I'm concerned.
"Coming around" to the idea that people have the right to make their own decisions rather than being subject to her personal sterotypes under the law--it doesn't impress me.
Posted by: Sportin' Life | Mar 29, 2006 6:01:25 PM
Bette Midler started her career singing at gay bath houses. Of course, the type of gay men she met were looking just to have sex if they were in a bath house. Her comments werent hateful, she just didnt have a good frame of reference.
Posted by: Hasan | Mar 29, 2006 6:10:50 PM
Bette Midler is far from being a "stupid, ignorant bitch." Midler has always been supportive of gay people -- hello, she got her start in bath houses. I find her comments to be interesting because this is a woman who saw (and impacted) gay culture first-hand. To say Midler has known a few gay guys in her time is the understatement of the year. All that said, she is expressing her observations of how she has seen gay life/desires change, how that has surprised her, and how she sees our desires as natural and worthy of support. To jump on her for this and accuse her of sterotyping is beyond ridiculous in my opinion. Viva Bette, one of our most underrated talents.
Posted by: bob | Mar 29, 2006 6:21:45 PM
Uh, yeah, she experienced gay culture alright, but only in the 70s in New York and SF. That was f'in 30 years ago. Didn't she know any gays who wanted to get married in the meantime or had relationships that lasted as long, if not longer, than many hetero marriages? I mean, christ, isn't she friendly with Marc Shaiman who was with a partner for a long time (although now no longer together, I believe). I'm glad to see her come to support gay marriage but her idea of "gay life" is really skewed for someone supposedly living in 2006 and surrounded by gays. Because of this I won't call her an ignorant bitch, but I do think she needs to be hit upside da head and given some change to buy a clue.
Posted by: Will | Mar 29, 2006 6:55:40 PM
Go Bette!
I'm sick of the pro-marriage gay mafia.
UGH. I want something better than marriage.
Posted by: Marc | Mar 29, 2006 7:11:06 PM
I hate to say it, but there are also a lot of gay men who don't understand why gays want to get married! And then, obviously, there are those who can't understand why no one can understand why gays want to get married. Sounds like everyone = stupid bitch, then. Time for everyone to get over themselves.
Posted by: Roger | Mar 29, 2006 7:32:36 PM
Yeah I see it best summed up as "If you don't like gay marriage, don't have one" everyone else stay out of our relationship and just treat us equally to everyone else. Ms. Midler no doubt was supportive, but still ignorant. What goes she know of the gay culture of the last three years ? Nice to see she's makeing an attempt at least I guess. And the bitch comment, hell I'm sure that's a compliment to her. :)
Posted by: Jeff | Mar 29, 2006 8:29:40 PM
The funny thing is Bette is being heralded for telling a lie. She is claiming to have been against gay marriage because she just never understood why two men would want to get married but the fact is she said she was against it because marriage, as opposed to unions, was a religious thing. She is lying. Her backtracking earns her no points in my book. It would be disappointing to me if I were one of those gays who elevated bathhouse fag hags as heroes but I'm not.
If you want an idea as to how someone like Bette Midler (friend of the community as long as everyone in the community is high on poppers, has a dick in both ends and doesn’t come out of the steam room long enough ask for equal treatment as anyone else walking down the street) can get away with objecting to gay people wanting to married just look at the nasty things that gay people here say about other gays who want to get married, like other peoples lives are some game for you to play.
Say you don’t want to join the army, adopt kids, donate blood, get married, and have other equal protection rights. But to go so far as object when other gays who DO want those rights ask for them is really beyond the pale.
Posted by: Chad Hanging | Mar 29, 2006 8:52:35 PM
The fact is, there are approximately 30 million homosexuals that live in this country. In any group that large, you can't make many assumptions. You can't talk about the attitudes of women or African Americans or evangelicals, but there are going to be tons of exceptions. Bette has experiences of gays through her times in the bathhouses, but only a subset of gays go to bathhouses. She fails to see the millions of gays and lesbians who have their own hopes and dreams. But all along, this presumed liberal woman thinks she knows and loves gays. She fails to see that she doesn't see beyond her own limited perceptions and experiences. For this, she's not a bitch. She's merely human. It's about time she opened her eyes and now supports civil rights and human freedom as inalienable rights that all gays and lesbians should enjoy, whether it's on the issue of marriage, adoption, or going to a bathhouse.
Posted by: Fred | Mar 29, 2006 11:49:10 PM
We, my love and I for 17 years, do love Bette; especially her talent. However, the reality is that we are so hurt at what seems such an utter betrayal. Does anybody remember her (short lived) sitcom? We were such fans we had people over to watch it until one unfortunate line. She said at one point, in a very patronizing way when her daughter (possible) boyfriend adored her, "He's definately gay," or something like that. I don't remember specifically. Anyway, it was clear then that she wanted to (in her mind) "elevate" herself to be straight oriented. Sorry Bette, for yourself.
Posted by: Russell | Mar 30, 2006 12:12:31 AM
It is an ignorant statement. Forget her history with gay men in bathhouses, her statement alone isn't even aknowledging that half the gay population are women.
Posted by: Patrick | Mar 30, 2006 1:04:44 AM
The Continental Bath House diva (of the late sixties and early seventies) would sing to men clad in towels or birthday suits, and when she became a successful actress and singer, she knew heterosexuals who switched partners and spouses with both frequency and urgency.
It is difficult to uniformly describe any group of individuals based solely on psychosexual orientation. In fact, we have discussed that two of ten gays vote and work for extreme right wing organisations intent on recriminalising them.
There are straight, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons who will never choose to legally commit and marry their significant love interest. Their "discordant relationship" will continue to define a segment of the human population.
That having been said, the majority of gay and lesbian couples do not live in WestHo or LA or Manhattan or Houston or Miami. (In Canada, we note Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver.) The majority of American couples, many raising children, live in Red States as well as Blue....as if ANY Blue state is better than MA, or to a much lesser degree, VT or CT.
The difference, of course, is known to all posters. Succinctly stated, the straight couple can end their discordancy by walking down to city hall and then to an appropriate marriage facilitator.
The difference between the USA (with MA as a state only exception) and Canada is that the gay and lesbian couple can make that same equal choice under law.
The tangibles are legal rights, and the intangible is equally if not more important - cultural approbation and society's recognition of the equal validity of the family unit.
Posted by: Raymond | Mar 30, 2006 4:38:08 AM
"Ignorant bitch" "Elevate herself to be straight oriented"??? C'mon people!!! Grow up. GROW UP. Bette Midler is a supporter of the gay community, always has been. She started singing in bath houses, and she herself didn't believe in marriage. My God, we need to stop being so sensitive. How many times did someone say "he's definitely gay" in the same context on "Will and Grace"? I love that everyone on here gets so upset over words, twisting them, kneading them to support their own anger and frustration. She is hardly the enemy. Shit, I wonder if Bush is these days. We're our own worst enemies. By demeaning a supporter, whether you realize it or not, of liberal causes we're turning our backs on ourselves...
Posted by: CJ | Mar 30, 2006 8:49:29 AM
I think Bette's words are being over-analyzed, as well. For so many years, she saw people putting things up their asses. Maybe she finally took her head out of her own!
Posted by: nyc | Mar 30, 2006 8:59:16 AM
Andy,
It wd be nice to know if Bette has tried to clarify any of this statement.
Thanks.
~
Posted by: Gilli | Mar 30, 2006 12:13:33 PM
>> You know, I'm old-school. I'm this age, and I've been through a lot and I didn't quite get it.
The Divine Miss M has always been a friend to Gay people. Always supportive! Always loyal! Even when it was seriously unpopular to be a friend to Gay men, she stood by her friends.
It bothers me that she "didn't get" Gay marriage, but then, for us "old folks", Gay marriage is a new idea. We didn't think that way when we were young. I still don't think of marriage as something I should want as a Gay man. That doesn't mean people who want it shouldn't have it.
You can bet that Bette will be on our side, no matter what we want.
Posted by: Jay Croce | Mar 30, 2006 7:41:01 PM
But Jay, your fat boy Scalia says you shouldn't even have gay sex without going to jail. Why do you like him so much, huh?
Where's your excuse for him? The pattern is so clear...excuse people who truly hate us, accuse the Democratic Party.
Jay, Jay, what do they say to you on the right wing sites you post on?
Posted by: brian nyc | Mar 30, 2006 11:43:51 PM
>>Jay, Jay, what do they say to you on the right wing sites you post on?
You wouldn't understand dear... It's grown-up talk.
Posted by: Jay Croce | Mar 31, 2006 10:09:11 PM